I'm sorry, but I really need to say this right now: Maduro is a fucking asshat. What is this man thinking. He just declared FIVE EXTRA DAYS OF HOLIDAY FOR NO G DAMN REASON. No, actually, I know the reason. He thinks that all of the people protesting in the streets are going to GIVE UP THEIR BARRICADES AND JUST GO TO THE BEACH.
Sorry to break it to you, Señor Asshat, but since there are NO PLANE TICKETS and NO MEAT and NO MILK and NO PAPER and THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IS BESIEGED WITH VIOLENCE I don't think that anyone is fucking going to the beach. No, they are going to stay here, build barricades out of abandoned cars and continue to make everyones lives tense and miserable.
Meanwhile, our students are out of school for OVER TWO WEEKS and our virtual instruction is absolutely no replacement for real, live instruction. Our students have lab hours and service hours to achieve and random holidays for no reason are preventing our students from getting done what needs to get done.
You know how you could fix the mounting problems of this country, Señor Asshat? No, not by declaring vacations and hoping that your protest problems move to the beaches. How about you actually TRY AND FIX THINGS. Maybe you can start with, oh, I don't know, a RATIONAL DIALOGUE where you don't accuse anybody of being a FASCIST. Or maybe you could consult ACTUAL EXPERTS in economics or policy who can advise you on how to improve the economy, because clearly your policy of HAVING THE NATIONAL GUARD INVADE STORES AND GIVING ALL THE GOODS AWAY hasn't fixed anything. Oh, perhaps the experts can also advise you that GIVING AWAY 100 BARREL OF OIL A DAY TO CUBA and charging 13 cents to FILL UP A GAS TANK is not a feasible or sustainable pratice, regardless of how much oil reserves the country has.
Regardless of what you do, Señor Asshat, I hope you have the wherewithal to take a good look around and realize that this country is a sinking ship and you are the captain. YOU are responsible for where this country goes, and you can't blame your crew if the ship sinks. There are 30 million people who want love this country and want to be proud Venezuelans. Restore their hope and their identity, because this mess is nothing for anyone to be proud of. If everything goes to hell, you only have yourself to blame because in the end the buck stops with you, Señor Asshat. You are in the best position to create positive change in this country, and if you continue to squander it with petty bickering and backwards, unproductive, politically-driven decisions than you are going to lose any opportunity to fix anything and we are all going straight to hell in a hand basket. And it will all be YOUR FAULT AND NO ONE ELSE'S. NOT THE EMPIRE, NOT THE FASCISTS, YOU. You're in charge. Now FUCKING DO SOMETHING!
February 26, 2014
February 24, 2014
Remember that time I accidentally stumbled upon a protest? Ya, let's not do that again.
Yesterday I felt certain that the state of affairs here were improving. Ivan and went down to hike the Avila and there were more people out and about than I had seen in two weeks. There were ice cream vendors, kids on bikes, families out playing baseball in the park- the picture of tranquility. Ivan and I played some catch ourselves, then went to the nearby mall, which was bustling, and got some pizza to take home for lunch. We enjoyed our delicious pizza and Ivan made it back home, which is all the way on the other side of the city, with no problems.
I woke up this morning to no emails from the superintendent, which meant school was on as planned. I showered and got ready for my day. About five minutes from walking out the door, my cell phone started blowing up. Apparently, in the wee hours of the morning, the barricades started:
The buses had left school normally, but soon realized that getting students to school, and subsequently home from school at the end of the day, was going to be challenging. And apparently not worth the risk, so an hour before school was to start, we were advised that it would be a virtual school day. People scrambled around to call their phone trees and parents. We quickly realized that some of our landlines weren't working. Mine was, so Jason came up to use it. By seven, it was clear this was going to be a more interesting week than I had predicted on Sunday.
I went over to Holly's to eat breakfast. We both didn't have virtual classes this morning so we figured we would try to hit up the grocery store before everyone else in Caracas made the mad dash to hoard everything in sight. Around 8:30am we headed out, only to realize that the whole Centro Commercial was closed, including the grocery store, pharmacy, nail places etc. We were not easily dissuaded from our quest, however. We both needed water and diet coke and those were worthy causes. We headed up the hill, where a four minute walk up the road there was a gas station with a small grocery/bread store. At first we were worried about the safety of walking up the hill, as there were a lot of motorizados (guys on motorcycles), but we soon saw two older women and their dogs, who greeted us with "buenos dias amorcitas como estan?", so we figure we were okay. As we crested the hill of the gas station, we saw that the station pumps were closed and there were cars parked randomly along the road. As we turned the corner to get to the store, we saw a huge crowd milling around a sturdy barricade of trash, furniture, random bits of wood, etc, similar to the one in the picture above. The crowd was clearly swelling, so we ducked quickly into the store and kept our mouths shut.
In the store, we grabbed coke, water and delightedly, some milk too. As we were finishing our shopping, a woman in a Venezuelan flag baseball cap rushed into the store, speaking loudly in Spanish. Holly, who is fluent, calmly whispered in English into my ear "We need to pay and get going", so I promptly plopped myself into the cola (line) and waited to pay. Almost without speaking, it was clear that Holly was going to pay for everything with her debit card, so that I wouldn't have to open my big gringa mouth. Right away, we hit problem #3473 of the day, as it became apparent that Holly's card wasn't working. We had suspected that our cards wouldn't work, as another co-worker had messaged that the bank site was down. Holly rustled up some cash and we headed out the door, heads down, walking with purpose down the hill. Once we got partially down the hill and out of ear shot, speaking in English was allowed again, and I asked Holly what the woman had said. Holly reported that she had warned the store that it was time to close, as the crowd was getting bigger and rowdier. Holly then giggled and remarked that it's funny that this was my first experience abroad. My response? Hey, if the bar is low, than you can only go up from there! :)
We got home uneventfully and my vigilante (the building guard) asked for an update then shooed me back to my apartment and told me to stay there. The streets are no place for gringas today! I agreed. If that's as close as I get to the street revolution, I'm thrilled. And for now, I am more than stocked up. I have food and water enough to last me at least 10 days. And for now we (clearly) have Internet, so life is good. From my balcony, things are still calm looking on the streets below. I'm happy to stay put as long as needed for things to settle down. I've got enough diet coke to last the long haul, so bring on the barricades and let's see what happens!
I woke up this morning to no emails from the superintendent, which meant school was on as planned. I showered and got ready for my day. About five minutes from walking out the door, my cell phone started blowing up. Apparently, in the wee hours of the morning, the barricades started:
The buses had left school normally, but soon realized that getting students to school, and subsequently home from school at the end of the day, was going to be challenging. And apparently not worth the risk, so an hour before school was to start, we were advised that it would be a virtual school day. People scrambled around to call their phone trees and parents. We quickly realized that some of our landlines weren't working. Mine was, so Jason came up to use it. By seven, it was clear this was going to be a more interesting week than I had predicted on Sunday.
I went over to Holly's to eat breakfast. We both didn't have virtual classes this morning so we figured we would try to hit up the grocery store before everyone else in Caracas made the mad dash to hoard everything in sight. Around 8:30am we headed out, only to realize that the whole Centro Commercial was closed, including the grocery store, pharmacy, nail places etc. We were not easily dissuaded from our quest, however. We both needed water and diet coke and those were worthy causes. We headed up the hill, where a four minute walk up the road there was a gas station with a small grocery/bread store. At first we were worried about the safety of walking up the hill, as there were a lot of motorizados (guys on motorcycles), but we soon saw two older women and their dogs, who greeted us with "buenos dias amorcitas como estan?", so we figure we were okay. As we crested the hill of the gas station, we saw that the station pumps were closed and there were cars parked randomly along the road. As we turned the corner to get to the store, we saw a huge crowd milling around a sturdy barricade of trash, furniture, random bits of wood, etc, similar to the one in the picture above. The crowd was clearly swelling, so we ducked quickly into the store and kept our mouths shut.
In the store, we grabbed coke, water and delightedly, some milk too. As we were finishing our shopping, a woman in a Venezuelan flag baseball cap rushed into the store, speaking loudly in Spanish. Holly, who is fluent, calmly whispered in English into my ear "We need to pay and get going", so I promptly plopped myself into the cola (line) and waited to pay. Almost without speaking, it was clear that Holly was going to pay for everything with her debit card, so that I wouldn't have to open my big gringa mouth. Right away, we hit problem #3473 of the day, as it became apparent that Holly's card wasn't working. We had suspected that our cards wouldn't work, as another co-worker had messaged that the bank site was down. Holly rustled up some cash and we headed out the door, heads down, walking with purpose down the hill. Once we got partially down the hill and out of ear shot, speaking in English was allowed again, and I asked Holly what the woman had said. Holly reported that she had warned the store that it was time to close, as the crowd was getting bigger and rowdier. Holly then giggled and remarked that it's funny that this was my first experience abroad. My response? Hey, if the bar is low, than you can only go up from there! :)
We got home uneventfully and my vigilante (the building guard) asked for an update then shooed me back to my apartment and told me to stay there. The streets are no place for gringas today! I agreed. If that's as close as I get to the street revolution, I'm thrilled. And for now, I am more than stocked up. I have food and water enough to last me at least 10 days. And for now we (clearly) have Internet, so life is good. From my balcony, things are still calm looking on the streets below. I'm happy to stay put as long as needed for things to settle down. I've got enough diet coke to last the long haul, so bring on the barricades and let's see what happens!
February 18, 2014
A Post From the Heart of a Revolution
While enjoying my first "political unrest" day off, I feel remiss in not commenting on the state of affairs here in Venezuela on my blog. I'm torn between my initial desire to stay neutral and the growing interest that the rest of the world is taking in the recent goings-on here. Truly, it's hard to tease apart the shadow from the truth, the hype from the reality and the true change from the hot air. I joined twitter today just to see what was going on from that social media angle and BOY has that been a voyage into manicness. I don't have to be in the marches in order to get a running stream of consciousness information overload from both sides. If you are interested in following these events as the unfold on the twittersphere, check these out:
La patilla (Oposición)
Runrunes.es (Oposición
El Universal (Oposición)
El Nacional (Oposición)
Globovisión (?)
Ciudad Caracas (Chavista)
Correo del Orinoco (Chavista)
La iguana tv (Chavista)
Venezolana de Televisión (Chavista)
Últimas Noticias (Sometimes Chavista - Sometimes Oposición)
So, there have been a couple of interesting articles/videos on what is actually happening here. Below are a few for your review*
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/18/world/americas/venezuela-protests/index.html?hpt=ila_c1
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/americas/venezuela-protests/?utm_source=Daily+Skimm&utm_campaign=92064203e2-daily_skimm&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74efee6205-92064203e2-23916841
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFS6cP9auDc
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201402172246-0023478
*I cannot speak to the political leanings of these stories, though you can best assume they are opposition friendly.
Let me stop my pontificating here for a reminder: I have a background in comparative governments and psychology. What is unfolding here could be my ultimate PHD thesis. It's that interesting and that complicated. Even though this is all happening around me, I likely won't understand the gravity of what is unfolding until much later and after much research. It's hard to tease apart what is happening because what is happening has roots that go so, so deep. I've already done quite a bit of reading, so the gravity and direction of what is happening is not lost on me. The two questions I find myself mulling on though are these: will this human flood currently taking over the streets make a difference- have they found the tipping point for change? And what is the answer to the oft repeated concerns being voiced- how do we correct the violence, the shortages, the inflation?
The flood of people- all of them regardless of political affiliation- they have a right ask these questions. They all have a right to march. But will answers come from flooding the streets? If this is indeed the tipping point, will they have the answers to fix things after everything tips over?
While I don't know if this is indeed the tipping point (though I have heard the word coup thrown around more than I am comfortable with), I will go out on a limb and say that we are not close to finding the answers. Both sides have a lot to scream about- they certainly want answers, but I haven't seen any impetus to find the answers. No strategies have been presented, no call for calm objectivity or bipartisan collaboration to solve these pressing problems. No debates, no committees, no transparency.
Venom. Finger pointing. Desolation and Hopelessness. Pride and shame. Una mezcla de emociones fuertes.
Meanwhile, I sit comfortably in my apartment. All my needs are met and I'm nestled comfortably on my hill overlooking the city that, from my balcony, looks the same as it always does. Far from the heart of the conflict, I enjoy my day off. It's a strange juxtaposition between my comfortable, idyllic day and the revolution that is unfolding in the valley below. Una mezcla de emociones para mi tambien.
February 9, 2014
Fun Days, Restful Nights
Was I being stared at because I could throw a baseball or because I was exclaiming loudly in English? I couldn't tell which, but it was very clear to me today during my trip the batting cages that Venezuelans are not used to seeing a girl who can throw like a boy. Thankfully, Ivan was around to keep my head from getting too big, but despite this forced humbleness, I had a glorious time today playing ball with Ivan, his dad and a few of his dad's friends from his baseball team. The weather was gorgeous and we spent out whole afternoon in a park, batting, drinking beer and throwing the ball around. We finished our lazy Sunday with prosciutto pizza, Caesar salad and watermelon for dinner and really, right this minute, I cannot tell you why I am still awake to write this blog, with such a good day and all this food under my belt. I guess I just feel pretty guilty, as I have been out of touch with the blogosphere since my return in January.
Right now, my excuse for my radio silence is that I am taking two online courses, along with my regular weekly Spanish lessons. My boss Kelly introduced me to Coursera, an outline course clearinghouse where you can take some really well run Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC's) for free. I am currently taking two on classroom management. Since I have been teaching regular classes all this year, I have learned that I have no freaking idea how to teach a course. From finding appropriate content, to classroom management to assessment, I am in the dark. And with good reason- I have never taken a teaching course in my life. It's amazing that this important skill is not addressed in counseling graduate school, but that is a whole other discussion for a whole other day. In the meantime, I am treading water as a teacher and I want to do MUCH better. So I am currently learning how to manage my class via online classes and last week, I was blessed to attend a training about the International Baccalaureate program in person at my school. At the training, I learned how to teach a Middle Years Program (MYP) course up to the standards of the IB program. It was an enlightening training, as it was the first time I had been exposed to pedagogy or criterion based assessment. I am getting dangerously close to writing the most boring blog of my career, so I will stop here and say that I am currently very happy with my professional development of late, though it has been interfering with my blogging and general free time.
Speaking of free time, I've also been missing my lazy hammock time, though Ivan and I did enjoy some quality Saturday afternoon hammock this weekend. My new personal life accomplishment has been that Ivan and I can fit into a one person hammock a) without falling out due to clumsiness b)without the hammock breaking c) without the hooks ripping out of the wall along with half of my neighbors balcony. I had to admit, Ivan and I have really been enjoying more of the Caracas daylife than night life of late. I am just so tired. I will regularly fall asleep at 9pm if close enough to a soft surface. And sleep for nine hours at a time, completely unmedicated. I can't remember the last time I slept this well in my life. I just feel so blessed, both to be sleeping better and for having a boyfriend that puts up with a girlfriend that prefers to spend her Saturday evenings sleeping. To be fair, during the day, we have quite a ball- recently we have done yoga, park strolling, pool partying, and tai chi. Technically, the tai chi was in the evening, and I didn't actually get to "do it" per se. What was supposed to be a regular practice actually, that particular day, was designated as a time for filming of a TV show about dance and martial arts. So while I did not get to have my first tai chi lesson, I am now going to be on a Venezuelan TV show doing tai chi....or pretending. I am the one in the back looking around because I have no idea what's going on. I expect nothing less from my Venezuelan television debut.
Right now, my excuse for my radio silence is that I am taking two online courses, along with my regular weekly Spanish lessons. My boss Kelly introduced me to Coursera, an outline course clearinghouse where you can take some really well run Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC's) for free. I am currently taking two on classroom management. Since I have been teaching regular classes all this year, I have learned that I have no freaking idea how to teach a course. From finding appropriate content, to classroom management to assessment, I am in the dark. And with good reason- I have never taken a teaching course in my life. It's amazing that this important skill is not addressed in counseling graduate school, but that is a whole other discussion for a whole other day. In the meantime, I am treading water as a teacher and I want to do MUCH better. So I am currently learning how to manage my class via online classes and last week, I was blessed to attend a training about the International Baccalaureate program in person at my school. At the training, I learned how to teach a Middle Years Program (MYP) course up to the standards of the IB program. It was an enlightening training, as it was the first time I had been exposed to pedagogy or criterion based assessment. I am getting dangerously close to writing the most boring blog of my career, so I will stop here and say that I am currently very happy with my professional development of late, though it has been interfering with my blogging and general free time.
Speaking of free time, I've also been missing my lazy hammock time, though Ivan and I did enjoy some quality Saturday afternoon hammock this weekend. My new personal life accomplishment has been that Ivan and I can fit into a one person hammock a) without falling out due to clumsiness b)without the hammock breaking c) without the hooks ripping out of the wall along with half of my neighbors balcony. I had to admit, Ivan and I have really been enjoying more of the Caracas daylife than night life of late. I am just so tired. I will regularly fall asleep at 9pm if close enough to a soft surface. And sleep for nine hours at a time, completely unmedicated. I can't remember the last time I slept this well in my life. I just feel so blessed, both to be sleeping better and for having a boyfriend that puts up with a girlfriend that prefers to spend her Saturday evenings sleeping. To be fair, during the day, we have quite a ball- recently we have done yoga, park strolling, pool partying, and tai chi. Technically, the tai chi was in the evening, and I didn't actually get to "do it" per se. What was supposed to be a regular practice actually, that particular day, was designated as a time for filming of a TV show about dance and martial arts. So while I did not get to have my first tai chi lesson, I am now going to be on a Venezuelan TV show doing tai chi....or pretending. I am the one in the back looking around because I have no idea what's going on. I expect nothing less from my Venezuelan television debut.
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